When I fall in love with a city, I bring home a snowglobe or, if I get lucky, a venereal disease. Johnny Depp brings home a $13.5 million house. From the Daily Mail:

Johnny Depp has bought a 10 million euro palazzo in Venice after falling in love with the city last year. The actor, 47, spent several months in the Italian tourist hotspot while filming The Tourist with co-star Angelina Jolie last year. And it appears he was so taken with the City of Bridges, he won a bidding war for the 17th century Palazzo Dona Sangiantoffetti.

According to local newspaper La Nuova Venezia, the Hollywood star outbid an Arab prince for the empty building for 10 million euros.

The Palazzo is one of the only available buildings overlooking the Grand Canal and is situated in the Santa Croce area of Venice, not far from the Santa Maria Mater Domini Church. While it needs some restoring, it includes high decorated ceilings, a roof platform and ornate columns. The palazzo would be a holiday home for Depp, his French singer/actress partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children Lily-Rose, 11, and Jack, eight.

It must be nice to be able to afford a nice home in such a historic area. In related news, I just found out that I have to cut the "call waiting" feature on my cell phone because I can't afford the extra $3.95 a month. The sad thing is that if I'd known that dressing up like an alcoholic gay pirate with a bad British accent would lead to untold fame and fortune, I never would have changed out of my Halloween costume back in '98.